Saving You A Trip Down Madison Avenue

There's a huge exhibit at the New York Public Library right now called "The Real Men and Women of Madison Avenue," dedicated to the greatest examples of advertising ever. Funny that the public library is one of the few public spaces left that hasn't sold all its wall space to advertisers (we think-haven't been in a library since they invented the internet), but ads got in there through the back door anyhow! The educational back door. But we're going to save you the trip; after the jump, five classic ads from the exhibit that sum up everything the ad industry has ever taught us:

Clairol: Girls are purty.

Volkswagen: People look closely at things that are small.

9 Lives Cat Food: People like stuff with animals.

Levy's: All that "we are the world" shit makes people feel good enough to want to buy your thing.